Metro News & Reviews

@Metrolosangeles Twitter Tuesday, July 24 edition

Welcome to Twitter Tuesday, our roundup of the latest Metro related tweets. To get our attention, add the #MetroLosAngeles tag to your tweets and subscribe to our feed if you haven’t already. For specific complaints and customer service, please use the Customer Comment Form on Metro.net.

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“There will, however, be paper TAP cards issued for single rides and day passes.”

I thought the transition was going to do away will all paper media. According to this staff report (I believe it’s the latest…), single trips will be sold on TAP cards with an additional $1.50 charge. So the first trip you take will cost $2.50 for a single ride + TAP card, and subsequent trips can be loaded onto that card as stored value…http://www.metro.net/board/Items/2012/05_May/20120516EMACItem30.pdf

Similarly, day passes will cost $6 for those without a TAP card, but will include a reusable TAP card with the purchase.

Wow, you would have to get a TAP card even for a single ride? That seems excessive, especially for people who ride infrequently. Definitely not tourist-friendly.

And what’s with these cards expiring? I’d be interested in finding out if cards from other transit agencies around the world expire (those using the same technology) and if so, how they handle it. Do you have to pay for a new card or do you trade in the old card for a new card for free? (I’m lucky because I get my TAP card/pass through my employer – when my TAP card expired earlier this year, I got a new one for free).

Too bad Metro didn’t adopt a plastic RFID token for single trips, if they wanted to move to reusable media.

I agree with Rafael Ochoa. Any chance the escalators can get those “Walk Left/Stand Right” signs like you see on airport walkways? I’ve missed many a train because of people blocking the stairs and escalators. (Normally I’ll just yell, “Excuse me!!!” but once it was a group of elderly nuns, so…)

Agreed, Katie. Signs indicating how to use an escalator properly and how to board the subway properly (let the people out first….) could do wonders to help along the average clueless metro rider and keep people moving.

@James Fujita – what I meant about the tourist-unfriendly comment is that unlike people who live in LA or southern California who may possibly ride Metro again sometime in their future (well, within 3 years), some tourists from other countries or states may never return to LA. So they essentially have a $1 souvenir from their trip to Los Angeles (the new Expo Line-themed TAP card could be a nice keepsake, but the regular TAP cards? Boring.).

If I’m on vacation and taking public transportation, I don’t want to be forced to pay for something I will never use again.